Super Mario Odyssey has sold more than 9m, one of eight million-sellers for Switch this fiscal year

Nintendo had an impressive third quarter, with significant increases in both revenue and profit, and eight games selling more than one million units in the fiscal year to date.

In the nine months ended December 31, 2017, Nintendo earned ¥857 billion ($7.9b) in revenue, an increase of 175.5 per cent year-on-year. Net profit for the period rose 31.3 per cent to hit ¥135.2 billion ($1.2 billion).

This strong performance was of powered by the Switch. Nintendo's console has now sold-in 14.86 million units, surpassing life-to-date sales of its predecessor, the Wii U, by 1.3 million units after less than a year on sale.

This was reflected in software sales, with Nintendo's big Q3 release, Super Mario Odyssey reaching 9.07 million units sold. Super Mario Odyssey is the most popular game on Switch by a comfortable margin, ahead of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (7.33m), Zelda: Breath of the Wild (6.7m), and Splatoon 2 (4.91m).

According to Nintendo, eight Switch games have sold more than one million units in the fiscal year so far, including the four mentioned above and 1-2 Switch (1.88m), Arms (1.61m) and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 (1.06m).

All of these figures include download sales, which Nintendo described as "brisk" on the Switch platform. Overall, Nintendo earned ¥43.1 billion ($397m) from downloads, up 87 per cent year-on-year but just 5 per cent of its total revenue.

Sales of the 3DS fell by 9 per cent year-on-year, with 5.86 million units sold. Software also fell 33 per cent to 31.25 million units, despite Pokémon Ultra Sun and Pokémon Ultra Moon selling 7.17 million units since it launched in November.

Nintendo's smartphone business was up 172 per cent over Q3 last year, largely on the strength of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. However, total revenue for smartphone and IP related products was just ¥29.1 billion ($268m).

With the Switch continuing to outperform expectations, Nintendo has raised its forecast for the fiscal year. It now expects to earn ¥1.02 trillion, up 6.3 per cent over the previous forecast, and ¥120 billion in profit, up 41 per cent.

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